


infinite universes

by Spield



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Amputee Sakura, BAMF Sakura, F/F, F/M, Founders AU, Long Distance Relationships, Multi, MultiSaku - Freeform, One-Shots, Platonic Love, Red String of Fate, SaiSaku brotp, SasuSakuKaka, Silver Foxes Love Triangle, The Haruno clan grows, Time Travel, TobiSakuKaka, chosen family, different timelines, divorced, reupload, silver foxes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-06
Updated: 2019-09-20
Packaged: 2020-01-05 17:38:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 14,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18370865
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spield/pseuds/Spield
Summary: Oneshot Collection that may or may not be relatedChapter 1: It is not an easy thing, being the Uchiha Matriarch.Chapter 2: In another world, Sasuke loves Sakura more than she loves him.Chapter 3: LDR is nothing in the face of tech and true love.Chapter 4: UchiSaku - Nobody loves more than the Uchiha.Chapter 5: This is the sin that will haunt Tobirama for the rest of his life.Chapter 6: Naruto smiles, and for a moment he is sixteen again and not thirty-six and he reaches for her hand –- only to have his hand go through. Like a blade sliding through thin air.Chapter 7: TobiSakuKaka - they've got a chance to do this right this time aroundChapter 8: For a medic, Sakura’s an awful patient.In which Sakura loses a leg, and Kakashi takes care of his wife.Chapter 9: It's a name they want, it's a name we'll give them - Haruno Sakura, Head of the Haruno ClanChapter 10: That scene from Chapter 1.





	1. The Journey to Uchiha - MadaSaku

**Author's Note:**

> This chapter is supposed to part of a bigger story involving time travel, and Madara finding Sakura in the current timeline and how that fucks up a lot of things because for him it had been DECADES but to her? It was only a few days ago. It also involved a botched sealing jutsu from Tobirama and Naruto executing his heart's sister. 
> 
> It's a monster of a fic. I don't know if I'll ever write it in its entirety.

_Fact One:_ It is not easy being an Uchiha.

Sakura tears her gaze from the pond and looks at Madara at the corner of her eye. He's tense as if waiting for her to flee or lash out. The latest council meeting was not kind to either of them. What used to be thinly veiled insults towards her heritage and his choice of bride turned into not-so-veiled insults as they push for an heir. It's the second year of their marriage and the public knows it has been consummated but without fruit.

They were suggesting that their clan head take the right to  _seek warmth elsewhere_ since it seems that her warmth is not enough to house a child. After all, she, born of earth and water is not of Uchiha fire. Only Uchiha women can bear Uchiha men.  _No offense, my lady. This is a man's right._

( _and we have indulged you long enough,_ goes unsaid)

Madara looks at his wife, the curve of her back and the shivering of her form. His keen eyes catch something dark and thick on the forest floor and the sound that tore from his throat has Sakura turning. Her green eyes follow his gaze and land on the layer of haori she removed out of frustration earlier.

The Uchiha fan stands out boldly against the dark thick fabric.

"It is heavy," Sakura whispers as she gazes back to the pond. She shivers but relishes on the feel of the air against her skin. She's the daughter of earth and water, and she's long been away. It calls to her, promising to carry her away from the stifling heat of the burning fire. 

Her husband bends down, his own haori crumpling as he picks up the discarded fabric. His dark grey eyes look at it silently, before turning to Sakura's back, clothed with white crest-less fabric. Silently, he takes a sit beside her and quietly says, "Yes. It is."

* * *

_Fact Two:_ Madara gave Sakura the freedom to choose.

"Go," Madara says, the shadows on his face dancing as he stands by the flickering light of the room's torch.   
  
In his room, they speak, propriety be damned when no one can see. It's the middle of the night, five days before their set wedding and he's letting his bride go.   
  
It takes everything in him to will his rough palms open, letting go of the rosette's wrists. Startled green eyes search the Uchiha leader's eyes while her own pale hand grasps his retreating hand, "Go where? I already decided, I choose you."

Madara, for the life of him, wants to end it there. But sometimes, he sees Sakura looking at the colorful, _warm_ and loud houses of the Senju and wonders about the seed of hesitation that must be taking root in her heart. The Uchiha are of fire, blazing and burning and they love as greatly as the first fire created by man, but they are rarely warm, rarely laughing and sometimes, he wonders if it is he doubts more that she does.  
  
_Is his love enough? Is his love too much? Is this selfishness worth her very being? Will this be enough?_

Silently, the Uchiha raises his hand and caresses Sakura's cheek. For a moment, she leans into his touch.

"Go, meet Tobirama." Madara steps back, "And if you can find it in you- return to me."  
  
That night, he stands vigil by their compound and waits for her to return and--  
  
she does. 

* * *

_Fact Three:_ Madara follows the Uchiha tradition in asking her to marry him.

The Uchiha takes pride in being one of the oldest, strongest clans to ever grace the Land of Fire. Their feats are well-documented by their own scholars, and their heritage passed on and on from one generation to the next. They speak of how they are descendants of the greatest genjutsu and fire jutsu user in history and how their traditions are bound to said fact. It's not surprising then that their life is ripe with rituals.   
  
It can be seen in how men ask for the blessings of their wife before battle. In how the women bathe them with oil and light the liquid on fire, never letting the fire burn their spouses. It is said to protect them in battle better than their best armors - armors forged by their mothers with white-hot heat of their own jutsu. Sent off with a prayer of;  _"Let the fire in me, protect the fire that was within me."_  
  
It can be seen in how they bless their children. In how they surrender their child to the clan by asking every clansman that is present to touch their child with a fire-lit finger praying that the strength of many will be the strength of one. It can be seen in how when the children are old enough, they are taught how to wield fire too.   
  
And so, this is how Madara asks Sakura to be his wife:  
  
In battle regalia, with his most trusted men behind him, he enters the dark where she waits. His long hair is high up his head, held by a red thin rope as vivid as his own eyes. 

The ritual is done in the coldest of cold and the darkest of dark; in the deepest caves of the outskirts of what would be Konoha - symbolizing the frigid nature of fear of not having someone to look to guidance to and the path that the clan will walk to if led by no one or just one.   
  
That's what it means for the clan; it means differently for the patriarch.

At the center of a room, Sakura waits patiently, adhering to the very last kanji of tradition. She sits on a stone throne-like chair, carved by her own hands and tools, in a room with walls lined with dozens of unlit torches, her body swathed in heavy kimono patterned with dragons and earth. Her hair flows freely down her back and is held back by a lone flower behind her ear.   
  
_(Once upon a time, they'll tell you, that Indra searched for his bride far and wide and found a young woman in a temple lined with emeralds. He was lost in an underground cave system, heavily wounded from his fight with his brother when he hears a song -- and he followed and followed until the brilliance of green precious stones led her to his wife, the First Uchiha Matriarch and well-- but that's another story)_

Madara walks for three days as the air gets colder and the place darker. And when he finds the place where light does not follow and the sounds of the world above is non-existent, he stops in front of her and kneels. He keeps his head down and his posture stiff, because this is tradition, this is not just about love (although it is) and a clansman hands him a dark piece of cloth and quietly, he covers his eyes and ties it tight behind his head.

Then he looks up, blindly, and asks; "Be my wife, be my light--"

"-- be my Uchiha matriarch."

Sakura, eyes tearing up, slides down and removes the knot behind her love's head. As the cloth comes off, she is met with Madara's closed eyes, lips curved up, knowing the answer before he even asked. The room ripples, alive which chakra and his clansmen move out of sight as he hears the answer: 

"Yes. I'll be your wife, your light. If you'll have me as your partner for life."

Madara's eyes open and the room bursts into light.

* * *

_Fact Four:_ It is Uchiha tradition for women to give up arms after getting wed.  
  
Uchiha women are fierce in their pride as mothers of the clan. It was never a source of shame to retreat from battle to hold the fort that welcomes their men home and fosters their children, _their lantern fires_. They are forge-fire, hearth-fire and the burning sensation of birthing a child and  _it is nothing to be ashamed of, Sakura-san, this is our choice._    
  
And yes, of course, Sakura knows this. Learned this with her would-be mother-in-law over dozens of cups of tea but Sakura has been a warrior for so long that parting with the battlefield feels a lot like parting with an arm, a leg,  _no,_ her very soul. She fought and leveled mountains, tore the sky down and here she is giving it all up for love.  _  
_

_This is not weakness,_ Sakura thinks almost angrily, _nor is it surrender._

_This is a different type of strength,_ Sakura thinks.

In front of the Uchiha clan, and facing her now and eternal husband, Sakura removes her battle ax from its place on her back and with two steady hands, offers it for Madara to take-

_This is trust._

* * *

_Fact Five:_ Uchiha Madara's first act as the patriarch of the Uchiha clan is this;

\- only to have it pushed softly back into her hands.

_We are equals. You are my wife. My light and my partner for life._


	2. Parallel Universe - SasuSakuKaka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Sasuke was called back to Konoha with a scroll that explained nothing but the bare details in the deepest code of the Hokage office - Back. Now. Urgent- he was fully prepared to pull back another moon crashing down the earth, kill an army and face a god.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This parallel universe story was supposed to be SasuSakuNaru buuut Kakashi just reared his nosy but and wanted in. But don't worry, that one shot is under reconstruction. Civilian! Naruto will make an appearance soon enough.

When Sasuke was called back to Konoha with a scroll that explained nothing but the bare details in the deepest code of the Hokage office -  _Back. Now. Urgent-_ he was fully prepared to pull back another moon crashing down the earth, kill an army and face a god.   
  
From the outskirts of the Land of Stars, Sasuke used his new eye to get to the nearest outpost of Konoha before sprinting like the devil itself was on his heels. The flat plains of the borders made way for the lush forests of Konoha and when Sasuke arrived to see no celestial body falling from the sky and no fire razing the village, he still went straight to the Hokage office, looking for the dobe that was the Hokage. 

Sensing his presence, Naruto stepped back from the window of his office and gestured Sasuke to stand in front of his desk. The grim line of his lips and the tenseness of his shoulders had Sasuke straightening up. 

"What do you need?" he asked, impatience running under his calm veneer. If it wasn't the village... was it his family?

"Is it Sarada?" Sasuke continued, his heart up to his throat. If his daughter was in any danger, he had the right to know. Why wasn't Naruto giving the details yet? And why didn't Sakura write to him about this? Didn't they talk about this?

That they would try?

"Sasuke," Naruto sighed, looking world-weary and for the first time, Sasuke saw his best friend as a thirty-three-year-old leader of a village. "I need you to trust me and I need you to sit down for this." 

And when Naruto began to talk, Sasuke began to curse (his cursed eyes, blood and the karma of--) the universe once again. 

* * *

 

The Hokage mansion was a rumor and a half. Half the village didn't know it existed and the other half kept the rumor mill going as to where it was hidden. It was a good tactic by the Nidaime, using civilians and gossips in the ranks to confuse those who didn't need to know where their Hokage hangs the hat and starts to become human. Hidden in what could be plain sight if one knew where to look, the Hokage mansion stands under an S-rank genjutsu seal inside the forests given by Nara clan to the Senju when they first began to be part of the village. 

The mansion was actually just a two-story traditional Konoha house with an artificial pond outside and a small yard, not a mansion compared to even the poorest of daimyos. However, it was as fortified as the strongest strongholds with 24-hour surveillance and traps around the area. It looked cozy but unlived in, as Naruto decided to move into the Hyuuga mansion with Hinata. 

Fortified. Hidden & familiar enough that people won't ask questions if the Hokage visited.   
  
The perfect place to hide a person you don't want people seeing.   
  
Before opening the door, Naruto turned to Sasuke, "She's confused and defensive. I need you to take it easy with her, teme. And... well, just, don't be angry with Kakashi-sensei." 

Sasuke took a deep breath and nodded, "I'll try." 

The door swung open and Sasuke knew that trying will be a lot harder than he thought. 

In the middle of the living room sat Sakura - not  _his_ Sakura, the  _other_ Sakura but, was  _his_ Sakura really his anymore anyway?- listening intently to their former teacher, the smile on her face the same one she used to have for him. 

* * *

 

It was some sort of tear in the fabric between dimensions. Weeks prior, members of the Nara clan started reporting about strange things falling out of the sky in their forests. It was strange contraptions made of metals mostly and were always brought in for examination only to always disappear in the middle of the process.   
  
And since different dimensions have been long proven by those who fought Kaguya to be real, Naruto immediately asked Shikamaru to contain the information and form an ad-hoc committee to investigate. Uchiha Sakura asked to be part of the team and with her mind joined with their most brilliant tactician, they managed to pinpoint the most active spots in the forest. Shikamaru and Sakura kept watch at the most active spot and gathered the items as they came and went, some took just hours, while the longest took three days to vanish. 

In his report, Shikamaru wrote how he immediately sent a hawk to the Hokage's office when the Head of the Hospital disappeared. He waited in hopes that she will reappear after a few hours and she reappeared indeed, only, it wasn't Haruno Sakura of the Hidden Leaf Village of Konoha but Haruno Sakura of Konoha City. 

And she was looking for her husband.

* * *

 

It took a week before Sasuke decided that Sarada was fully ready to face the woman that was not her mother. 

Holding his daughter's shoulder, he could feel her light trembling. Sarada was now tall enough to reach his shoulder and it seemed that every time he went on a mission, she changes. But, Sasuke noted, she still remained to be his and Sakura's child - 14-year old and terrified and quietly hiding her terror, something she definitely got from him, Sakura had told him.   
  
_I was a crybaby, Sasuke-kun. It was really easy to tell how scared I usually was._

Sasuke squeezed his daughter's shoulder lightly and was rewarded by the eyes she shared from her mother, welling in tears. "Mama doesn't know me, right?"  
  
Clenching his jaw, Sasuke nodded. "Yes. But she's not your mother, you need to remember that." 

_And she's not my wife._

* * *

 

Naruto - who was a leader of a damn village in this dimension,  _and wasn't that a mindfuck and a half -_  had told her on her first day in their world that the Sakura-here was a married woman with a daughter (among other  _amazing_ things) and that in the spirit of transparency for all the parties involved, he would like to encourage her to meet them. If only for a short while. Sakura had agreed until she saw who her other self was married to. 

Or used to be married to. What the hell. 

She didn't really want to meet any more people but it was Kakashi-here ( _husband, husband,_ she wanted to whisper and weep) that convinced her, if only just for Sakura-here's daughter. He had asked her so deeply, so much that she knew without asking that Kakashi-here loved Sakura-here too but that was a can of worms she didn't want to open. 

Now she was sitting across Sakura-here's husband and daughter, she had no idea what to say. 

Sasuke cleared his throat and Sakura noted how different this Sasuke looked to her dimension's Sasuke. First off, he got that weird eye going on and second, why was he wearing a poncho? Was it raining? "I am Uchiha Sasuke and this is Uchiha Sarada." 

Sakura nodded, knowing their names already. "I am Ha-runo Sakura," she caught herself , missing the flinch of Sakura-here's husband. "It's a pleasure to have new company," she joked, "Naruto was getting a little annoying for my tastes." 

Naruto was familiar territory. She was trying, so Sasuke could too. "Yes, it's one of his defining traits," he smirked, slowly relaxing. Sarada nodded and stifled a laugh, before reaching over the low table to pour her dad and her (other mom? what) Sakura-san tea. 

"Seems like some things never change, regardless of the universe we're in, huh?" Sakura mused, nodding her thanks to Sarada as she reached for a cup.

“He’s as annoying in your world as well?” Sasuke asked, watching as she spins the cup precisely two and a half times, comforted by familiar habit.

Sakura nodded and shot him and Sarada a grin. It was a familiar grin, back in their first years of marriage, and it was odd, seeing it on not-Sakura’s face, Sasuke decided.

“You don’t even know half of it.”

For hours, they danced around the subject with Sakura’s stories of Naruto’s mishaps in her world, detailed enough to be funny but vague enough to avoid delicate information leaking out. There was a story involving ramen and washing dishes that had Sarada snorting and rolling her eyes and Sasuke’s lips quirking upward. By the second hour, Sarada brought in snacks and by the fourth, she said her goodbyes over the third empty tea kettle and left her father and not-her mother alone.

It was sunset when they got to the real meat of their conversation.

“How long do you think I’ll be stuck here?” Sakura asked, watching the spots of sun fade from the ground. The forest here was dense, denser than anything they had back home, and the colors of the sunset looked like puddles of fire on the forest floor.

Sasuke sighed almost inaudibly, “At this rate, a month tops. It takes a while sifting through dimensions and we’re not even sure if it’s safe to transfer you or my wife back without splicing you.”

Sakura bit her lip and looked at the exhausted man in front of her, “I see. Well, I suppose it should be a comfort that your Sakura will be well-taken care of by the people in my world. If she landed where I was that time, she’ll be fine.”

Even without a gush of air signaling his relief, Sakura saw how tension left his shoulder like ice melting off the side of the mountain. "Where were you when you exchanged places with my wife?" Sasuke asked, after turning over what this Sakura said. "How are you sure she's safe?"

Sakura leaned back, not sure how much she could divulge. When it looked like Sasuke wouldn't budge, she sighed. "I was in my laboratory. It's a secured lab with my most trusted assistants and colleagues. We experienced this before - but not with me - we have a set of protocols to follow." 

"This happened before? What do you mean?"

This time, Sakura was too tired of the back and forth and crossed her arms like it was a defense on whatever response she was going to get, "I'm a portal jumper, Sasuke-san."


	3. LDR - NaruSaku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> LDR is not an easy thing for any couple but Naruto and Sakura get by.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not gonna lie, when it comes to fluff, I'm a NaruSaku whore. I just love the earnestness of Naruto and how it's possible for Sakura to match and manage that.

Breaths coming out in rapid successive huffs, Sakura ran through the busy path of the underground train station of Tokyo. The hallway was littered with businessmen and students fresh out of their buildings, looking around for bread, clothes, and food. Ignoring the tempting smell of freshly baked croissants, Sakura sped up the stairs and out to the unforgiving cold. 

Shoving past a lingering group of high school students at the corner, the pinkette turned left and her eyes brightened at the site of her apartment complex. Skipping the elevator, Sakura jumped up the stairs, two steps at a time until she reached her door, silently sending a prayer of thanks to Gai-sensei for beating into her the importance of stamina. 

Once inside, all her stuff went to a corner and her laptop was turned on. Fingers typed her username, password and--

“Hey! Naruto, sorry I’m late! It’s just my stupid classmate—“

From the other side of the screen, Naruto smiled brightly at his busy girlfriend and waved. “It’s fine, Sakura-chan. I got an extended off for when I covered Kiba’s shift.”

Sakura smiled and settled further into her chair. Bright eyes took in the dusky light from her boyfriend's window and the dangling foot of his roommate at the corner of the screen. She smiled, “Yeah, I remember. How is he by the way?”

Naruto snorted, “Same old, same old. Still in love with his dog—“

“Hey, Akamaru’s adorable!”  
  
The lump at the corner of the screen protested, just as Naruto's brown-haired roommate popped his head out. "Oh, hey Sakura!" Kiba greeted before being waved away by Naruto. 

"Fine, fine, I'll be at Kankurou's room."

Sakura laughed as Kiba left the room, grumbling. For a second her green eyes looked around the room of her boyfriend from the other side of the world. “Naruto, have you been cleaning?”

“Eheh…” Naruto laughed hesitantly, pushing his face closer to the camera, “What do you mean, Sakura-chan?”

Sakura rolled her eyes, “Back off the camera, Naruto. Seriously, you can’t live in a pigsty forever, you might get sick. And who will take care of you there when I’m over here?”

The blonde smiled fondly at his worried girlfriend, “Hai, hai. I’ll clean tomorrow morning, do you have your dinner?”

Sakura nodded and reached for a bento she pre-prepared earlier that morning, “I tried the recipe you sent me last time, I don’t think I got it accurately though.” The pinkette held up the open bento to the camera and showed Naruto the curry and rice balls she made.

“Oh hey, the rice balls actually look like rice balls this time!” Naruto grinned. Sakura pouted at the jab but was silently proud of her progress. The last rice ball she made was… well, not rice ball-looking.

“Do you have your breakfast?” Sakura asked as she set down her bento on her table. Naruto nodded and produced a Tupperware from underneath his table, he opened it and held up the box to the camera.

“We made this last night! It’s called Arancini eggs!” Naruto paused and pouted, “I miss ramen.”

Sakura laughed, “Itadakimasu” she murmured, and turned to Naruto. Of course, her boyfriend would be studying under a 5-star michellin chef and he’ll still be craving for ramen.

The two spent several minutes eating in silence while catching up about their day. From Sasuke dropping by the hospital – “That bastard should get a girlfriend of his own” Naruto pouted, “He has a boyfriend, Naruto. Haven’t I told you about that yet?” “EHHH??” – to the surprise visit of Naruto’s kind-of uncle/grandfather Jiraiya just last week –“Don’t tell me you read that porn, Naruto.” “Eheh, he needs a proofreader for French?” “Liar.”

“I’ll make you ramen when you get home.” Sakura promised, like she always did, as they finish up their respective meals. The sky outside Sakura’s window had turned from indigo to pitch black, sprinkled with few stars and the sky outside Naruto’s window had turned from pale yellow to bright.

It was time to go.

Naruto grinned, “Yeah, try not to poison the best chef in the world, Sakura-chan.”

“Ha-ha.” Sakura rolled her eyes fondly, “As if the best chef can’t be saved by the best surgeon in the world.”

A moment of comfortable silence stretched between them as they longingly looked at each other. 

“I miss you, baka.” The pinkette murmured as she touched the screen where Naruto’s cheek was.

Naruto smiled, and leaned against the virtual touch. “I miss you too, Sakura-chan.”

“Do your best today---“ Sakura began,

“—and do your  best every day.” Naruto ended.

Someday, when Naruto’s done with his internship in France and she with her medical school, they’ll have all the time in the world to eat together in a quaint little house back here in Japan. He’ll drop off the kids before going to their restaurant, while she will pick them up and prepare food and wait for him to come home.

But for now, while they’re both chasing their dreams, they have dinners/breakfasts spent together, in front of the computer screen, occasional visits and daily emails.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I already have an idea how to continue this universe ;)


	4. The Sun & The Moons - UchiSaku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There had been no choice for the Senju and the Uzumaki, they have lost a large number as did the Uchiha. But the Uchiha are far more willing to die out of existence in battle while they broker for peace—and if that peace came in the price of one pink haired woman and a broken-hearted heir, then—
> 
> It’s not much of a choice now is it?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The Uchiha clan is having problems with inbreeding, making their energies incompatible with each other thus making it implausible to create new children. The only match remaining is Sakura and they bartered for her in exchange of a treaty with the Senju-Uzumaki alliance.

Six months since her _relocation_ and two weeks after the arrival of missed intercepted letter, Sakura begs them to let her see Naruto. And not surprisingly, they said no.

(It’s not surprising but it wasn’t easy either.)

In the common room of their manor, in the compound she didn’t want to be in, she called them to her for the first time. Dressed in the red and golds of the Uchiha fires and ancestors, she waited on them with tea and mochi as regal as a courtesan. Then, with wet lashes and flushed cheeks, she murmurs quietly, asking them to let her see the love of her life but they are unyielding. Like a forest fire against the drizzle of the rain.

Their refusal was met by white hands and swallowed tears of this girl whose life has been uprooted from the land of warm houses of the Senju-Uzumaki alliance and thrusted into the cold of the Uchiha for the sake of peace.

(There had been no choice for the Senju and the Uzumaki, they have lost a large number as did the Uchiha. But the Uchiha are far more willing to die out of existence in battle while they broker for peace—and if that peace came in the price of one pink haired woman and a broken-hearted heir, then—

It’s not much of a choice now is it?)

That night, Sasuke sits awake, rooms and rooms away from Sakura, waiting for her rage like a house waiting for the battering winds of the coming storm. He expects her to trash the immaculate room that they provided, to tear down the curtains, rip the tatami mats and smash the vases.

But Sakura doesn’t.

The night after, Shisui visits her in her room – _cage, my prison_ she said, and if anyone of them flinched, it went unnoticed- and tries to engage her in conversation. Flirting up a storm that, had it been months ago, would’ve at least fished a small smile out of her pursed lips.

But Sakura doesn’t.

Two nights after, Itachi sits with her, sometimes, reading her excerpts from books that she once itched to touch. He reads her poems, novels and songs about _forgiveness._ Asking for something but never out loud and Sakura who was once quick to forgive –

\--doesn’t.

Madara doesn’t visit her nor does he have any expectations of her.  Instead, he watches her during the rare times that she goes out for air. He watches how she longs for the sun, even with all the moons surrounding her. He watches her wilt.

So when Sakura, strong, unyielding, beautiful and kind Sakura, begs once again with tears running down her cheeks to _please, please let me see him and I’ll yield- please –_ it wasn’t Itachi or Shisui who relents, it is Madara.

* * *

 They bring her to the Senju residence without the pomp and shine with which they took her from it. It is Sasuke – who she once loved and maybe, _desperately_ \- still loves even if just a bit he thinks – who opens the shoji doors for her. It is Shisui who holds her hand as she sits by Naruto’s bedside. It is Itachi who gestures that they leave and it is Madara who refuses.

They stand at the corner of the room, quiet as the woman they love holds the hand of the man _she_ loves.

The heir of the Senju-Uzumaki alliance lay unmoving on his bed. Naruto’s complexion is pallid, so far and so sick from his tan complexion that they all know that he won’t be lasting very long.

(Sakura thinks it’s cruel of them, cruel of them to only let her see him when it has come to _this._ )

Naruto’s blue eyes open blearily to the beautiful sight of his former fiancé –and forever love- and says, “Sakura-chan” like a prayer.

“Hello, Naruto.” Sakura says and _smiles,_ as she threads her pale fingers through Naruto’s sweaty blonde locks. Naruto sits up, glances at the corner of the room and wearily shakes his head. “I see.”

And that is the only acknowledgement the men receive.

Even in the darkness of the room, it’s as if Sakura glows, Shisui thinks. She glows in a way that even the  moon in the Uchiha compound couldn’t achieve. She blooms here, and Shisui thinks they may indeed be cruel after all.

“Let me heal him.” Sakura asks, and on the tip of their tongues is refusal until she adds, “And I will come willingly. I will open my heart – “ her voice breaks, “—if you let me heal him.”

Naruto protests -  “No, no, no – Sakura-chan”  and “I can’t let you do that, if you do that – you will die.”

And this is true; after all, they took her from him because of her abilities--

Sakura turns to Naruto, eyes wet, and holds his hand against her cheek, “But if I don’t, then you… will die.”

(-- but this is what Naruto and Sakura don’t know, they kept her –didn’t push her – not only because they need her for their survival of their clan but also because;

Sakura is kind. When she thought that none of them were around, she held the hand of a small Uchiha girl, who was trying not to cry because of the cut on her knee. Sakura whispered words of encouragement, as she coaxed the skin to knit together.

Sakura is wise. What she lacks physically, she makes up with knowledge. She beats Itachi in shogi and gave Madara a run for his money during war – “ _You’re a strategist.” “You honestly didn’t think it was only Shikamaru?”_

And most of all, Sakura is loving and for a clan with a curse of hatred? It was too much to pass up. )

Madara steps forward, “You won’t run? Or fight? Or conspire?”

Sakura lets out a shaky breathe, “I will try. I will accept the fate you give me.” Then without turning to anyone of them, “Just let me save him.”

“Sakura-chan…” Naruto pleads, tears brimming in his eyes, “Please don’t- I can, I’ll be better and I’ll get you back and –“

“Naruto, please…let me do this. You… need to lead the Senju. They need their leader, their patriarch.” Sakura pauses, and cradles his face, “A wife is replaceable, a leader is not.”

Heart in his throat, Naruto shakes his head choking through his tears, “But I love you.”

Sakura smiles, “And I you. But we are not to be in this lifetime.”       

* * *

 

(( “Do you think… she’ll ever love us like that?” Shisui asks Itachi as they post guard outside Naruto’s room.

Probably not, Itachi thinks, because what are we but her glorified captors? But he says, “Perhaps, she said she will try. And she—“

“—always stands by her words.” Sasuke finishes.

“Besides,” Madara says, “it’s not like she’ll have a choice.”

“I love you. I love you. My sun, my light. My love.” Sakura murmurs as she puts Naruto to sleep and walks away. ))

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More of this universe? Yes? No?


	5. An Entire History - TobiramaxSakura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With the eternal burning fire of Amaterasu raging behind and around him, the heir of the Senju clan zigs and zags, flips and dodges and with Raijin in hand Tobirama starts the cycle of lightning and hearts. 
> 
> It is the one thing that will haunt him forever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm not sure if I could call this a part of the first chapter (MadaSaku) but it could be. 
> 
> Note that Sakura in this chapter DID NOT time travel. She is born in this timeline.  
> And I am so mean to Tobirama and I should write a happy story for him soon.

1

With the eternal burning fire of Amaterasu raging behind and around him, the heir of the Senju clan zigs and zags, flips and dodges and with Raijin in hand Tobirama starts the cycle of lightning and hearts.

It is the one thing that will haunt him forever.

* * *

 -10

When his father arranges his betrothal, Tobirama accepts with all the regality of a battle-harden sixteen year-old, which is to say, he sulks in his finest robes all wiry and face set in stone.

He is not the first-born son, so he doesn’t get a princess from the faraway lands. No red-haired brides with dowry as expensive as several hectares of farming lands. No blood pacts on tops of mountain and no senseless killing of herds of cows and horses to prove his worth.

He’s not envious, this is just another means to an end.

Butsuma is in front of him in his own finery, an old man holding on to power. If he had not known his father in their home, in the battlefield, he would have assumed that everything was fine but the drums outside remind him of the drums of war and the fire dancing of the fire of the enemy – well.

He knows the feeling all too well. Raised and reared in the blood, legs may carry him far but the battlefield never leaves a warrior.

But the drums sing not the hymn of war but a quicker, livelier beat with deep voices of dark men with pale hair from the far seas and the shadows of fire dance not with the glint of forged steel but with the padding of bare feet against earth.

So Tobirama steps outside and sits at the elevated chair his brother built as if waiting for an ambush. The people from the far seas are a festive bunch and his brother fits right in. Chuckling and clumsily indulging the young boys and girls in unfamiliar clothes and dances.

The Haruno clan is a seafaring clan, rarely ever on land, they rely on the sea for everything. However, what makes them a valuable would-be ally is their healing practices. Glowing green hands, salves and poultices made from roots and trees – yes, a valuable ally and fitting for the second son, Butsuma said.

In exchange for land and protection, the Haruno patriarch offers his infamous daughter. With beauty almost up to par with the goddesses, whisper follow her like wisps of smoke every time their clan drop their anchors.

Tobirama was prepared for the pink hair – and isn’t that odd, a washed-out red for the second-best – the green eyes and the peach skin but, _but._

She steps out of the tent, all smiles and ringing for her clansmen and eyes trained on him, and she dances and he is _gone_.

* * *

 -9

His bride-to-be is five seasons younger than him, with wrists and ankles tinkling with shells and hair adorned with layers upon layers of unmovable flower crowns. He remembers the flowers with odd clarity, once upon a time, his mother planted similar ones in a garden he barely recognizes in his memories.

And at that moment, as she dances around the fire, all wanderer feet and lithe grace, dressed and loved by the sea with a crown of flowers from their land, he understands.

She is vowing to try.

Tobirama wants too as well – it is logical, to be at least companions with the person you will spend your days and nights with and he refuses to have the same marriage as his father did with his mother- but the sand beneath his feet is unsteady and he is _sinking, sinking_ and still simmering in the unfairness of choice stolen from him.

Instead, he watches her flit around the bonfire the cracking sounds of the burning wood almost overpowered by the steady beat of the drums.

* * *

 -8

Things are not so easy for Tobirama.

It seems all the charm and warmth have been exhausted on his older brother and skipped him for he fails to approach his bride-to-be on the night of their betrothal.

The battles have quieted down and Butsuma allows his second son to stay at the Haruno settlement by the shores of the Land of Water. This is requested by the clan head in order to let his daughter decide if she wants to keep her young husband-to-be.

Tobirama does not envy his brother but he envies this, this concept of a choice, regardless of the fact that it may put him to a disadvantage. And so, he takes a small house facing the sea and watches for three mornings as his bride-to-be pushes colorful and strong boats out to the sea while the sky is dark and comes back with hauls of fresh fish as dawn breaks.

Perhaps he should feel shame in the way he watches her strong arms pull at the net filled with flopping fish or in the way he observes the strength in her shoulders as she carries over the baskets of fish to the shore, sometimes even accompanied by an errant child or two.

On the fifth morning, he approaches her. Unburdened by his finery and weapons, he stands before her with bare feet and arms. His feet caressed by the quiet waters of the sea. Sakura smiles, tendrils of her hair escaping her bun and the soft glow of the morning reflected in her eyes.

“I was wondering when you’ll come over, Tobirama-sama.”’

Tobirama almost shrugs but instead nods at her latest haul, “That’s a lot of fish you’ve got there.” He feels foolish at such a bland statement but it makes her laugh and his red eyes warm at the image.

He thinks he’s imagining it, the light blush that creeps up the apples of her cheeks, but then she smiles all bashful and shy, “Hashirama-sama said you liked fish.”

_Oh._

* * *

 -7

Thus, a courtship begins.

He learns his bride-to-be’s life and heritage with the determination of a scholar. He learns of the stories of the seas and his skin turns lobster red at the heat of the sun. And in turn, he teaches her the ways of the land, how to root oneself on something that is both yielding and stable.

When Tobirama learned the hundred different kinds of fish and clams and ways to prepare them, Sakura learned the hundred different types of seeds and how to toil the land. When Tobirama learned the different songs of her people, he shares with her the songs of his mother.

He also discovers the hundred different shades of Sakura’s eyes and the one shade that matches her chakra when she heals.  

He spends his seventeen-eighteen birthdays with her, learning how to build a life.

Today, they are in a boat when Sakura looks at him with an intensity that if he were a lesser man would’ve made him squirmed. But Tobirama is a Senju still even when his hands are holding a fishing pole instead of a sword, so he merely quirks an eyebrow at his betrothed and waits for her to speak.

She is now sixteen, at the cusp of seventeen and soon they will be married and she is looking at him with green, green eyes. “Do you not desire me?”, she asks and Tobirama’s ears burn at the question. She told him weeks ago how uptight land dwellers are in comparison to her clan, and _is everyone as tense as you are, Tobirama-sama?_ And perhaps _that_ has been leading up to this.

When he first came to their shores, she is fifteen and made up of harsh lines and barely there curves. But she is now seventeen, a woman in the eyes of society and in every man in the settlement. He is not deaf as to not hear the silence that follows his bride-to-be every time she emerges from the ocean, or every time she dances among the embers with her twinkling eyes and tinkling bracelets.

“Do you think I am blind?” Tobirama asks, feeling a slight tug at the end of his pole’s line. It is a big catch and he waits patiently.

“What?” Sakura blinks, caught off guard and she looks beautiful underneath the glow of the moon. “Of course not.”

The tugging becomes insistent and Tobirama tugs back, teasing. His pulls are steady enough as to not scare the fish away, like a game where they both know who emerges victorious.

He slides his red eyes to his bride-to-be, delicate ankles and peach skin, and eyes waiting for an answer. There is a fire building inside him, a fire born at the first night he saw her. Slowly, he reaches out to her, pulls her to his side of the boat.

And when he kisses her, his sea-nymph, he feels the fish tugs strongly at his line and hears its snap echo across the sea.

* * *

 -6

But of course, nothing ever lasts for the second-born son.

Butsuma roars at the mountain of a man that is Homura, all rage of the deep forests and endless terrain. But Homura is the son of the sea and as vast as the forests and mountains are, the ocean is ageless and limitless and he stares at the Senju leader like the ocean unbothered by the wiles of the land.

“We are not warmongers, Butsuma-sama. And I refuse to let my clansmen fight your war.”

* * *

 -5

The engagement is brutally broken with his father’s anger at the pacifist way of the nomads, and he all but spits on their bare feet as the scroll arrive for Tobirama’s recall back to the front lines and to his family.

He reads the scroll with resignation etched in his bones and tucks it back into his hakama and prepares to leave the place he called home for more than ten seasons. As he seals his belongings into storage scrolls, Sakura pads into his house.

Quiet, she regards him as he uproots his life once again. He is taking only the things he came with and there’s something painful twinging just below her breast as she sees him pass over the fishing pole she made for him when he turned seventeen.

Sakura knows it is useless to ask if he could stay so instead, she steps into his space, lips against his shoulder and asks, “Will you remember me?”

(He wishes he could’ve said this:

“When my brother ascends as heir,” Tobirama starts and curves around her skin to skin _,_ “and we win the war, I’ll come back marry you.”

_And we can fish and toil land together, and have children and--_

“I’ll marry you.”

Tobirama repeats this with a silent ferocity as if he could make it true by his will alone.)

But instead, he leaves her in the dead of the night, disgraced, with his clansmen and never looks back.

* * *

 -4

The war takes away years and years, brother after brother and Tobirama recites the features of his wayward bride at night lest he forgets them. _Pink hair, like the sakura blooms his brother fails to grow. Peach skin that never quite burns or tans. Green eyes. Green eyes._

It is almost a decade after he left the settlement when the news comes from the shores to the inner lands, from the mouth of his clansman.

His cousin speaks of new trade routes, new possible enemies, allies and, a massacre, _a massacre,_ and no survivors.

(And if Tobirama refuses to weep, Hashirama knows better.)

Peace comes too late.

* * *

 -3

It only takes months after the news for peace to finally take its final shape.

Talks between the Senju and the Uchiha have been peaceful, as peaceful as two rival clans can get. After much negotiation, the Uchiha clan has finally agreed to the terms of the treaty, high and mighty they may be but their numbers are dwindling as fast as the Senju’s are.

The treaty is signed on top of the mountains of the Land of Fire and he could see the glittering seas of the border of the Land of Water. Still, Tobirama stays close to Hashirama, always a half-step away, ready to defend and fight as Uchiha Madara grasps his brother’s hand with a firm shake.

On a spring day, Konohagakure is born.

* * *

 -2

There’s a rumor about the matriarch of the Uchiha clan.

Of course, there are rumors, in a fledgling village of patriarchal clans, the Uchiha stands out. A matriarchal clan as one of the most powerful clans in the village is an unspoken threat to the councils of men. However, the Uchiha have been quiet, almost secretive.

All clans have their secrets, of course, but it itches that nobody knows who the matriarch of the Uchiha clan is. Wife to both heirs of the clan, she rarely steps out of the compound and have never attended functions where she’s invited.

Many have passed it off as part of their eccentricities – the Aburame are living nests for the bugs, so really, who’s to define what’s strange?- but not Tobirama, of course.

It is barely morning when he steps out, hoping to get to the market for the freshest produce. One of the disadvantages of their village still, is the lack of farming lands and grazes. They have to rely on merchants bringing in their goods every morning from the fringes of Konoha. However, with the number of merchants coming in, it seems the news of peace is more of an aphrodisiac than any promised infrastructure.

Fruits, vegetables, and pastries are now commonplace but still, this far out inland, good fresh fish is a rare commodity.

The market that sprung is near the quarters of most of his clansmen, and he hears them whisper in awe about a beautiful Uchiha woman up and early walking around the market place.

Tobirama is not blind ( _“Do you think I’m blind?”)_ as to not know that the Uchiha men and women are an attractive stock. However, he and his clansmen have been exposed to them through blood and guts for years that this reaction should by now be unfounded. He decides to see what the fuss is about and detours back where the whispers are the quietest. There, in between two young boys is an Uchiha woman. One that he never saw before or cataloged before.

She is picking out fresh fish from the stall, softly turning over the catch and inquiring this and that with the owner. When he stops a few feet away from her, surveying the paltry offers of tuna, she turns to him, “Lovely morning, Senju-sama.”

Tobirama thinks he imagines it, the familiarity of the voice and the slight waver in her greeting, instead he nods, “Lovely morning, Uchiha-sama.”

* * *

 -1

The decision creates outrage in the Uchiha clan and so, it is not surprising that she comes.

She comes in the finest robes of the Uchiha that it would be impossible to miss who this woman was. With Izuna following close behind, her requested audience with the Hokage and his council waits in baited breath for the first glimpse of the elusive matriarch.

Ink black hair, pale skin, and sooty lashes, the Uchiha Matriarch is everything everyone ever imagined but--

“Drop the genjutsu.” Tobirama says, hand on the hilt of his weapon, legs tense and ready to jump down their elevated seats. This court-arena, a witness of judgement. 

He thinks he sees her hand shiver under all the layers of her silk but then Izuna grasps her hand, body lithe and eyes flickering red. A moment of understanding passes between them and there’s a waver of chakra around the area and there she was.

After more than a decade, of nights cursing the death god, all the things that never had the chance to happen, there she was. Alive, but she might as well be dead with the clan crest on her back.

Her green eyes flick past him, all emerald and no seafoam, hard as gems and glinting with resolve.

The council whispers with none of their shinobi quiet. It’s unheard of for a clan as large as the Uchiha to marry outside of their family and for the heirs to marry an outsider? _Scandalous._ Blasphemous even. Who is this girl of pastels and greens?

“I am here to argue for the case of my husband, the patriarch of the Uchiha clan and the equality of treatment in this fledgling village.”

In a fit of anger, Madara had fought with the Shodaime and thus banished outside the village. This is not the warring era anymore, this move seems to say. We will not tolerate this disrespect, it adds. Hashirama recovers with all the magnanimity he could salvage and looks down on the regal woman who stands as if she’s six feet tall. He repeats what the council has spoken to his ear, “Your husband is a danger to the village. Until he calms down and can be spoken with levelly he must remain outside the border.”

Izuna bristles but it’s the matriarch that speaks. “Like a dog (the Inuzuka bare their teeth) chained to the deep bowels of mountains? Surely there is a better way to treat your dearest friend, Senju-sama.”

Everyone, the newly allied Inuzuka, their Aburame cousins and the noble clans of the Nara, Yamanaka and Akimichi, turns to the leader of this unstable village. A moment of truth for the first kage.

“You must understand, Uchiha-sama, that there are precautions needed to be done—”

“For or against the Uchiha clan?” Sakura chuckles dark and not at all amused, “You have not been subtle.”

She turns to the room, gestures regally with her sleeves. “None of you have. What slight has my clan done-“

“You are not an Uchiha—” Hashirama starts, slips, tries to salvage and save this woman remembering still the slip of the girl his brother left behind all those years ago.

(He could save this girl, though she is Uchiha bound she is not Uchiha blood and people can forgive this when they commit the unforgivable.)  

Sakura’s eyes glint dangerously and again, she raises her hand, pale and calloused and the room takes a sharp breath.

Tobirama sees Izuna straighten with pride, a husband and brother all the same.

“I have broken bread with them. Laid and dined with them. Fought and bled the same hue. I have boiled the seas of Kiri with the heat of our fires. Loved and bore the future heirs of this great clan. I am the 25th matriarch of the Uchiha clan. And you forget your place Sho-dai-me.”

And with blazing green eyes, she looks at the Senju. Steel lining her back, the elevated court seems non-existent as she meets their eyes.

“We are the fire from which you create your shadows.”

* * *

 (--1)

“They took her. They killed the Haruno clan and took her.” Tobirama grits out, pacing like a leopard in his brother’s office. Hashirama looks at his brother with trepidation. It has been years and his brother has been in love for far longer.

“Brother, you know that’s not true.” It is proven that it was ninja from newly formed Kiri that took out the nomad clan, a bad case of territorial dispute. An unfortunate casualty to the changing world.

Hashirama fears this change overcoming his brother. He is fizzling with cracking fissures of lightning, and _rage,_ rage as deep as the oceans he abandoned.

* * *

 (---1)

Of course, there is only one way this would end – in fire. Always in fire.

The newly-built houses of the Uchiha compound are burning and shadows are dancing and jumping out of the newly-built walls. Instructing his clansmen and their allies to put out the fire and secure the civillians, the Senju brothers begins to catch up to their equals in battle.

Surely, they are going to free their patriarch and then it will be a bloodbath. So, Hashirama, swallowing his bitterness, calls on the roots of the trees and cracks open the earth, clearing the path dozens of body at a time. The forest is on fire and Tobirama zooms past, his Raijin soaked with blood.

This is what the cost of peace is.

 His blood is singing in his veins as he finally sights the familiar back of Uchiha Izuna at the wide river bordering the Land of Sound, where Madara is held.

However, the battle song of his blood comes to a halt because she is there too. Pink hair sheared short, in battle stance in front of her children, fists, and arms coated in blue – ready to fight and ready to die.

And fight they did.

From the distance he hears Madara summon the Kyuubi, the world is coated in red and Tobirama’s heart is breaking.

* * *

 0

Izuna is his equal in the field and he is fast but Tobirama has developed Shushin so he is faster but, _but –_

Where there was black and sharingan red and ink fire, there is now pink and green and _blood red_.

Someone is screaming – everyone is screaming, and Tobirama is frozen his arms locked against his ribs as Sakura – _Sakura –_ pulls him closer, his Raijin deeper– a mockery of the embrace he’s locked in his hearts of hearts – and forms hand signs behind his back.

Through blood and tears, she is sobbing, “The children, _my children -please”_ and,  _"I'm sorry, Tobirama. I'm sorry."_

And then there’s nothing. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In Tobirama's character, I wanted to convey his sense of duty battling with his desire and love, with the latter not winning. It's just that as a second son, he is bound and he doesn't know any other way. 
> 
> To explain more of what happened in this story, I'm thinking of writing a chapter from Izuna's perspective. Then maybe Madara or Sakura's. Who knows. 
> 
> Let me know what you think!


	6. lives unlived - NaruSaku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry Potter-verse! In which Sakura dies in the war inside the Konoha Academy and the two survive.

“You sure took your time,  _baka_.”

Naruto’s heart thumps fast, almost painful in his chest at the sound of the voice. Sweet and familiar. A voice he hasn’t heard in a long, long time, except in his dreams. Taking a deep breath, Naruto turns and takes several steps on the cobblestone stairs and reaches where she is.

Sakura looks the same as the day they lost her. Wearing their 6th-year uniform, her hair immaculate and tucked behind her right ear as she always did, she stands at the top of the chairs, waiting, as she had for the past decades.

“Hi, Sakura-chan. I’m sorry I took so long.” Naruto smiles, and for a moment he is sixteen again and not thirty-six and he reaches for her hand –

\- only to have his hand go through. Like a blade sliding through thin air.

He chokes back the tears that he had been keeping the moment he entered the hallowed grounds of Konoha Academy. Sakura, on her part, her eyes softens and glistens, and if spirits could cry, Naruto thinks that she would’ve shed tears by then. But then she smiles and says, “I thought you were never going to visit me.”

* * *

 “I met your children.” Sakura starts, as they walk around the academy’s courtside.

After trying to talk inside one of the empty prefect’s rooms, only for the students to form crowd outside trying to catch a glimpse of the war hero, Uzumaki Naruto, the two old friends had to use the Invisibility Cloak to sneak out the building. Well, Naruto had to use it. One of the perks of being a ghost is the ability to disappear and re-appear at will.

“Boruto looks so much like you. Has your broom skills too, the prefects had to fish him out of the lake last week. And Himawari is the sweetest Ravenclaw I’ve ever met. And I’ve met a lot.” Sakura laughs and floats in front of Naruto.

Naruto was taller than her when she died, but now, as she looks at him, Sakura's struck by how large he is now. Towering, broad - a man through and through. 

“Hey. What’s wrong?”

Naruto sniffs and looks at Sakura and again, he is struck by how much he wants to touch this girl, like he’s just a boy again and not a man, not a father.

“They would’ve played with you and teme’s kids if ---“

Sakura’s eyes soften, “Naruto, don’t.”

The pinkette raises a translucent hand to touch the blonde man, and Naruto swears that he could feel her, even though he cannot.

“Even if I had survived, we wouldn’t have been together. You should know that by now.”

Smiling, she pulls away, “How is he by the way?”

“Still brooding. But he’s getting better, he’s been an auror for like five years now?” Naruto answers absentmindedly, looking up the big full moon hanging over them.

“Five years?” Sakura stiffens and smiles sadly, “It’s been that long huh? I guess time works a little differently here.”

The blonde swallows, and sits on the stray stump they found. Time does work differently. And suddenly, he is struck by the knowledge of how lonely his Sakura-chan might have been for the past decades. Left by the living and stuck as a 16-year-old casualty of the war while her friends grow up and grow old. Stuck forever in time, and tied to the place where she drew her last breath.

He should’ve saved her, he thinks, his fists clenched. Either that or he should’ve just died with her.

An eternity of running the halls of Konoha Academy with her is not a bad afterlife, he thinks.

“I know what you’re thinking.” Sakura sighs, “You couldn’t have saved me, Naruto. He was too fast, and you were going against Madara with Sasuke. I was on the other side of the academy.”

Naruto bites his lip, trembling, “I could’ve at least… I should’ve at least had the chance to.”

When the battle was over, only then did they find her body, lying under the sun as the crowd behind them rejoiced. It was unfair. They wouldn’t have survived if not for Sakura’s knowledge, and yet they didn’t have the decency to mourn for her at that moment.

For a while, it's silent except for the birds flittering across the grounds and the bells from the tower. Then Sakura speaks, “You married Hinata. I knew you’d make a good couple.”

Naruto smiles, bittersweet. Hinata is kind, and a good wife and mother to his kids. She was there when he broke down when Sakura died. She was there when he couldn’t even attend the memorial in the Academy in fear of seeing Sakura, floating around.

And he loves her, just not—just, he couldn’t forget his first love.

“You know what I feel for you right, Sakura-chan?”

Sakura smiles, nods. Of course, she does. He was never shy about it and it warms her how well she was loved by this boy when they were young. 

“You meant felt, right?”

The sting of a life unfulfilled hurts

Cerulean eyes shine and Naruto shakes his head.

“Feels. You know that I’ll always love you right? Even though saying that now as an old man makes me feel like a perv," he laughs and Sakura giggles.

Green, green eyes (those eyes will never change, Naruto has always known) dance as Sakura scans Naruto’s features. Crow’s eyes around his vibrant blue eyes, laugh lines from years of laughing, and a subdued blonde for his hair,- he has grown older and she is glad.

“You aged well.” Sakura teases, “I wish I could’ve seen it though.”

_I wish I could’ve grown old with you though._

Naruto smiles and puts his warm- alive- tan hand over her translucent one and says, “Me too, Sakura-chan. Me too.”

* * *

  _(Optional ending: Yandere Naruto)_

When the night falls and they've catched up on the years she's missed, Naruto excuses himself to the Headmaster's tower. 

There's something to be said about how his old teacher never seems to age. Kakashi, despite his eternally gray hair and years of serving the academy - first as a teacher and now as the Headmaster after Tsunade disappeared to the winds shortly after the Great War - the famed wizard still looks the same as he was when they first met. 

"Take a seat, Naruto. Before you start shouting." Kakashi waves one of the oak chairs closer to his former student and flicks his wrist to set the candles alight. 

Despite the grand distance between him and his former student, Kakashi could feel Naruto's magic pressing against his. Agitated and betrayed by a secret that wasn't his to keep. 

Really, these children, still giving him headaches. 

Naruto takes the chair offered and creates a silent barrier around the office, ensuring that nothing comes in and nothing comes out. The magic ripples uncomfortable across them,  _his wandwork has always been awful, Sakura-chan would say_ , before settling like a heavy blanket. 

"You knew.  _YOU’VE KNOWN FOR YEARS!"_

Kakashi cautiously fingers his own wand as Naruto's magic leaks out, sparking fires across his temples. The demon sealed in this boy may be a  _helpful_ one, but a demon remains to be a demon no matter how friendly it can be. "It wasn't my secret to divulge. She didn't want you to know." 

When Kakashi took up the mantle of Headmaster after Sakura’s mentor flew off to god knows where, he was fully expecting the ghost town that the academy would be.

When the Death Eaters stormed the academy, the casualties of both students and faculty reached its hundreds. With trembling hands, he saw name after name fade from vivid black to bruise blue on Konoha Academy’s directory.

The Wizarding World has never seen such a great loss since the First War.

On the nights following his ascension as Headmaster, he heard the howls of pain and disbelief, the echoes of pattering steps of the child soldiers they lost. However, as new students pour in, eventually, spirits came to terms with their death either through self-reflection, violent acceptance and closure from their living friend and family except for a few.

There was the matter of Sasuke’s brother loitering around _(and isn’t that another headache to deal with, god, why must wizards live such awfully long lives?)_ the castle helping Muggle-borns with their homeworks, the Hyuuga kid waiting for his estranged lover to return – _Tenten died while in hiding, her spirit a vengeful one they can’t bring to the academy, even for a fallen hero –_ and of course, Sakura.

His little Sakura, brightest witch of her age, dead at sixteen.

Perhaps it’s his self-hatred that drove her away for years after her death because for the first decade, he only saw her spirit in passing. Mostly with Itachi, pestering living students to get one book or another from the library and, _“Shiho, could you turn the page for us? I need to prove this know-it-all that the Lochness Monster IS A DRAGON.”_

It was only during the 15th anniversary of the end of the war did she approach him.

Drunk off his ass and nothing like the esteemed Headmaster he was supposed to be. She sat beside him, her weight nothing but cold air. He sobbed and sobbed that night, with the moon as witness and begged for her forgiveness for his neglect and failures.

_“You need to let me go, sensei.”,_ she said. _“You need to let us go.”_

Somewhere beyond the veil, Obito and Rin shivers at her plea.

Kakashi shakes his head from the memories and frowns at the red magic singeing his carpets, “Naruto, calm down. Let me explain.”

Naruto murmurs a spell and the heaviness of the demon magic withdraws as his eyes glow red, “Then explain. Explain why I only knew last week that one of my best friends have been stuck here for decades. Explain why nobody bothered to inform me the very first time her spirit appeared. _Explain.”_

“Sakura knows you love her,” Kakashi starts, and love, oh love, has always been the strongest magic. “She wanted you to live your life. You couldn’t honestly tell me and swear on your magic that you would’ve moved on as you did had you known she’s here.”

Naruto’s magic flares visibly, “That’s not your concern, _sensei._ ”

“It is. It is when it’s the reason why she can’t move on.”

Kakashi sighs, “She can’t move on because you’re still holding on. _Let her go, Naruto.”_

Naruto’s eyes glows even redder and Kurama murmurs in his mind, part his friend and part his enemy, _he wants to keep her all to himself. Liar liar liar, sensei is a liar. Sakura-chan would never—_

“So what was this, a closure meeting? One-off and I’m just supposed to let go?”

“You have a family now, Naruto. What are you holding on for?”

Naruto stands abruptly, the flash of his small family flicking past his eyes, the chair toppling from the force.

“I LOVE HER! How could I just let go?—” the blonde stops, an epiphany drawing into his eyes, his lips forming a small _o,_ “She can stay here forever, then.”

Kakashi’s eyes widen, “Wait—no, Naruto, don’t be selfish. She needs to go—”

A half-crazed smile forms on his former student’s lips and Kakashi is reminded just how much the power disparity is between the two of them. Kakashi’s good, brilliant and powerful but Naruto, Naruto’s nothing the wizarding world has ever seen.

Everyone’s a bit broken by the war but how could anyone have missed this?

_The war ended like this:_

Madara with his eight demons versus Naruto and Sasuke with the Kyuubi. Both sides delved into the darkest of the dark magics, drawing sentient magic creatures of the old tales to a war of humans.

Madara went mad, a cautionary tale that will be told for generations, consumed by the demons themselves. He was turned to ashes, laughing, even as his bones burned and melted. Naruto and Sasuke triumphed as the good is supposed to do, triumphed through friendship and kindness.

People tend to forget how Naruto swallowed the core of the demon god. Of how Sasuke didn’t trust himself not to be corrupted, of how Naruto was the one who turned Madara to ashes, burned and melted his bones while Kurama delights in the carnage.

Of how there were two sinister laughters echoing the halls that night.

Oh, how history paints its heroes.

And so—

“She will stay here forever, _sensei.”_

_You know that I’ll always love you right?_  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was in the mood for fluffy NaruSaku but holy shit this turned dark real quick!


	7. Sensei/s AU - TobiSakuKaka

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> TobiSakuKaka - they both fucked up in their previous lives, they're not gonna fuck up this one.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For @birkastan2018! Thank you for the prompt!  
> I'm still accepting prompts - just send an ask to my Tumblr (Spield) 
> 
> Prompt: “It’ll be nice if I have another set of hands for this.”
> 
> Inspired by Then and There Again by moor + An Entire History (chapter 5)

“It’ll be nice if I have another set of hands for this,” Sakura grumbles, trying to balance all the notebooks in her arms. With a total of 26 - Naruto’s was “missing”, missing her ass - notebooks stacked on top of each other plus another 20 from the other class and she has a leaning tower of notebooks she could hardly see past.

It’s a good thing there aren’t any students left loitering in the halls. Sakura pauses, adjusts her grip with the stack and glances at the large windows of their building. 

The sun’s bleeding red and orange and from the distance, she could hear the baseball team packing up after their training. It must be around 5:30 pm, which explains the eerie silence in the halls. 

* * *

Turning to go to the stairwell, Sakura prays she doesn’t slip and have a laughable obituary in their town’s newspaper. She just hopes somebody’s still in the faculty room or else she’d have to bring all of the notebooks back in their classroom. 

 _Hopefully,_  it’s Kurenai-sensei, Sakura thinks, _even Gai-sensei just not–_

“Tobirama-sensei?” 

Sakura cursed in her head, _of course_ , he’d be here. The man doesn’t have a fucking social life. 

From the other end of the room, said sensei looked up from the papers he’s grading, “Haruno-san, you’re still here?”

 _No, I’m a mirage_. Sakura thinks but says, “Yeah, I’m just dropping off our notebooks.” she shrugs showing the obvious tower in her arms. 

It must be the nerves or the fact that they’re alone but Sakura’s never felt at ease with their Philosophy professor. There’s something about him that she can’t put her finger on that has her almost shaking in his presence which doesn’t bode well with her leaning tower. 

Against the bleeding sunset, he almost looks like someone she knows—

Before Sakura could even react, the stack wobbles and the top part collapses down with a crash, letting notebooks skid all over the faculty room. 

* * *

Tobirama doesn’t really need a job. The business he and his brother hustled to build during their youth is definitely more than enough to buy freedom from the dreaded 9 to 5 (to 12, 1 am etc) thankless job of teaching. 

He could ride a private jet anywhere in the world every week, or train in their family dojo for the rest of his life and he still would have enough money to buy the whole damn school.

 _But_ , Tobirama thinks, lounging against his uncomfortable chair while watching Haruno hastily - stupidly - bend over to pick up the fallen notebooks,  _if I did, then I wouldn’t be here._

There’s something to be said in this era’s clothing. Back when they were shinobi, such short skirts are unthinkable but here? It’s “uniform”. Nobody could blame Tobirama if he enjoys the sight a minute too long. 

As he does, he notices the slight tremble in her fingers and the hastiness of her movements. He tries to swallow his disappointment. His bride-to-be is still afraid of him. But, he reassures himself, they start like this in every other lifetime – it will pass. 

Once Sakura’s picked up all the notebooks and placed them neatly on Kurenai-sensei’s table, she turns to her teacher fully prepared to say goodbye and bolt out of the room. 

Before she opens her mouth for a polite goodbye, Tobirama interjects, “Haruno-san, what do you think of reincarnation?”

Sakura blinks, because  _what?_  “Reincarnation?”

Standing up, Tobirama nods. In a few steps, he’s right in front of her so close she could smell the coffee lingering on his breath. “Reincarnation. Do you believe in it?”

Is it normal to have philosophical discussions with your Philo prof outside your Philosophy class? Is this a test?

Feet glued to the floor, Sakura couldn’t avoid meeting her teacher’s eyes, her neck arching a bit due to the height he has on her. “There’s no scientific evidence of it–”

“I know. I’m asking still, do you believe in it?”

This close, Sakura could see that the marks on her teacher’s face aren’t facial tattoos as she and Ino gossiped about. They’re scars. Deep, pink scars. For a moment, an image of her hand tracing the very same scars flashes in her mind’s eye. 

Watching her closely, Tobirama sees a spark of recognition pass through her eyes. So close, if he could just push a bit more –

“Haruno-san, an answer would be nice.”

He lets his monotone voice have a sarcastic lilt, knowing how it aggravates her. He’s not disappointed when her eyes spark fire. There she is. 

“No, I don’t believe in it,” Sakura answers, lying. 

Because there’s no way reincarnation exists. At least not scientifically. The dreams she gets of a different Konoha, an older Konoha, a different Naruto, Sasuke - everyone - are just dreams. 

Nothing spiritual about it. 

Tobirama’s eyes narrow and he steps into her space, backing her up against Kurenai’s table. Crowding her so closely, she has no escape. 

The room becomes charged with something so heavy and new that Sakura heaves. Her chest brushing Tobirama’s. He leans forward, his forearms creating a cage on the side of her hips. 

He misses her warmth, her taste and it’s torture watching her touch her friends so familiarly when he couldn’t. 

“Tobirama-sensei,” Sakura whispers, whimpers, as he leans into her, his lips grazing her ear. 

“Are you sure, Haruno-san?” 

For a moment Sakura flounders, what were they talking about? _Ah_. 

“ _Ah!_ ” A moan tears itself from Sakura’s throat, surprise, and pleasure bolting from the sting Tobirama’s bite on her earlobe to her toes. 

 _She still reacts the same, so sensitive_ , Tobirama thinks, remembering the nights and days from their previous lives where he took his pleasure with her on their marriage bed. Her strong thighs, her fragrant smell, her dripping cunt–  
  
Tobirama breathes, his hands moving to her waist lifting her to the table and his leg parting hers. She grasps his shoulder, torn between pushing him away and pulling him closer. In the end, he makes the decision for her and takes her hands, pushing it behind her - a makeshift bind. 

“I see the way you look at me.” her professor starts, voice teasing and cruel “Do you dream of me?”

Flashes of her dreams pass through her mind’s eye and Sakura unconsciously grinds down the leg between her thighs. She’s dreamed of hands grasping her hair, cock in her mouth, cum between her legs –

Eyes half-lidded, Sakura leans closer to Tobirama. A breath away.

“I-I’m–”

The faculty room door slides open with a bang and Sakura’s heart stops. 

“Kakashi-sensei!” Sakura gasps, pushing Tobirama away from her space, her face burning with shame. How much did her English professor see? Why is he still here? “I– I–” 

Tobirama raises an eyebrow at his co-faculty. Daring in his casualness. 

Turning to Sakura, Kakashi eyes her rumpled uniform with heat behind his eyes before meeting her green eyes. “It’s late, Sakura-chan. Why don’t you head home?” 

Sakura straightens and avoiding Tobirama’s eyes, she nods and swiftly exits the room. Left alone the two men let the heavy unsaid words hang in the air. 

Kakashi moves first, walking past Tobirama and straight to the end of the room where the windows are. The sky’s turning dark and the lamposts of the school is turning on one by one. 

For a few minutes, it’s silent before the sounds of the soft padding of feet reach Kakashi’s ear. Sakura exits the building moments after, bag over her shoulder and cardigan hastily tied around her waist.  

“We agreed - we’ll wait ‘til she graduates.”

Tobirama shrugs and having moved next to Kakashi, he eyes Sakura’s form as she runs out the school compound. “I’m just… laying down foundations.” 

 _Very funny_ , Kakashi thinks. 

As the pinkette’s form disappears behind the school fences, Tobirama turns to Kakashi. “Don’t act as if you don’t do the same.” He says, pertaining to the incident back during the school festival. 

Kakashi rolls his eyes, “Maa, maa, Nidaime-sama,” and waves his hand dismissively, using his predecessor’s old title. He smiles, two dark grey eyes creasing close - he knows Tobirama hates it - “I’m just reminding Sakura-chan who her real sensei is.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> In my head, they have a truce with two parts:
> 
> \- They wait ‘til Sakura’s of age before pursuing her aggressively. (Like making out with her in one of their classroom ehem, Kakashi or crowding her after class ehem TOBI aren’t aggressive)
> 
> \- They team up to keep all Uchiha’s away. They failed once - Sasuke became Sakura’s boyfriend back in middle school but they broke up during 2nd year senior high - never again. 
> 
> Kakashi’s got his eyes on Itachi and Shisui while Tobirama’s keeping Madara away FAR FAAAR away.


	8. It's rotten work - KakaSaku

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Sakura loses a leg, and Kakashi takes care of his wife.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> From Tumblr post:
> 
> Pylades: I'll take care of you.  
> Orestes: It's rotten work.   
> Pylades: Not to me. Not if it's you.

“I’ll take care of you,” Kakashi promises, voice quiet and hoarse after their shouting match. In the dark of the room and with his eyes worn down by the years he’s lived he could barely make out the outline of his wife on their bedroom floor. 

Around her are seal tags, unfinished writings on the paper, broken brushes and an upturned wheelchair. 

In his voice, Sakura hears the love he promised her and fulfilled in the years they’ve kept their vows, and her heart breaks so violently she’s surprised he doesn’t hear it. She sniffs and tries to hide her tears away, catching a sharp metallic smell in the air. With the little light from their kitchen, she sees a shard of glass from their broken lamp embedded in Kakashi’s ankle.

For a moment, Sakura forgets that  _oh yes, her leg’s gone - gone, gone, gone, blown to pieces in Iwa -_ and she tries to stand up because her arms are still strong and just one step over the other but– oh the other is gone –  
  
Kakashi catches her before she even stumbles, his strong arms wasting no time and cradling his wife close to his chest. There is an awful sound trapped in Sakura’s throat tasting of failure and doubt that drags out an awful sound in Kakashi’s - something between a sob and a whimper. 

Slowly, they slide down the floor. Kakashi’s legs crossed, arms still around her and Sakura gives in, curls her body into his and sobs. What was she now?  
  
“I’ll take care of you,” her husband repeats, cries, vows.   
  
Lifting her head to rest against his throat, Sakura reaches down and with a glow of green, she removes the shard from his foot. An apology for her words still echoing in their room. “It’s rotten work.”   
  
Kakashi lets himself breathe and holds her tighter. The sun is peeking in the horizon and she lets him kiss her for the first time since she arrived - not whole but  _alive -_ “Not to me. Not if it’s you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Posting this here before I forget.  
> Please review and leave me a prompt with your favorite Sakura pairing!


	9. The Haruno Clan - SaiSaku brotp! (Part One)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They wanted a name, we'll give them a name - Haruno Sakura, Head of the Haruno Clan

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The idea of Sakura being the head of her clan came from Amako's "Our Oath (we're expendable)", a wonderful piece of work!

With all the changes brought on by the war, some things still remain. 

Status quo and whatnot and one of these things is the fact that the Yamanaka clan is patriarchal despite having a female heir. Even if said heir survived and thrived during the 4th Great Ninja War, connecting countless minds across miles and miles of distance -  _connecting armies._ Not even if she’s now the Head of T&I beauty and mastery in spun gold and blue eyes. Not even when she is the co-head of Konoha’s newest hospital - not even–

Or, in short, the Yamanaka elders refuse Sai as their heir’s chosen husband.  
  
In a fabulous display of rage, Ino directed attacks to the elders with a sharp tongue and glinting eyes. Swearing up and down that they will not dictate who she is to marry not if they want the mainline to continue. 

But Sai, in all his rudimentary understanding of family, refused to be the reason why she leaves her clan and ended the relationship with the detachment honed by Root in its darkest of cellars. 

Now, after two weeks of mourning, of Sai’s monotone answers and Ino swinging from grief and anger, Sakura knocks on her teammate’s door. When no answer comes after the third and fourth try, she slips into his window straight to his bedroom. 

There, sitting against the wall beside his bed is Sai. And around him are countless paintings strewn around the room. Black and white angry strokes and spilled ink - it is grief manifested.

“Hey, Sai.” Sakura calls, gingerly stepping over a painting of Ino’s smile. 

Not lifting his head up, Sai continues to sketch - his movements jerky and not at all elegant. “It is customary to turn away when one doesn’t get an answer, Ugly.”

Sakura snorts and sits beside him, “Yes, well. I’m always one for breaking the rules.”

There is a twitch of a smile on the corner of Sai’s lips that gives Sakura hope. “No, you’re not.” 

“No, I'm not.” 

For a while, Sakura thinks of a way to approach the subject. Sai, even while willingly learning, has been conditioned so thoroughly by Danzo that it’s impossible to completely wash away. And she’s scared that he’ll clam up. 

But, Ino’s been crying and before Team 7 - there was Ino and when Team 7 was gone, there was Sai. Sai and Yamato-senpai. The in-betweens of Sakura’s life that proves that she is something beyond the team she bleeds for.   
  
They are the family that chose her and so this time, she chooses them back.  
  
“The Yamanaka elders–”  
  
“Sakura,” he uses her name, a tone so quiet it’s almost begging, “Please. Let’s not talk about it.” 

She almost acquiesces because this boy - man- of ink and paper rarely ever asks for anything but, just a bit more suffering, she thinks, for a blessing.  
  
“– refuses to let you marry Ino because you have no name, no lineage and she is the future head of the Yamanaka clan, one of the noble clans of Konoha–”  
  
“I know,” Sai grits out, his already pale hand turning white gripping his brush.  _He knows, he knows._ And he remembers the frustration and helplessness because this is one enemy he can’t vanquish from the shadows - this was Ino’s  _family._ And he’s always known Sakura to be brash, but never this cruel. “Stop.”

Sakura turns to him, eyes green and stark, and he remembers how this girl taught him first. Before Naruto and before Ino, it was Sakura with her very little-  _endless -_ patience that taught him and  _is this a lesson for heartbreak?_

She takes his hands, moves in front of her kneeling before folding her legs in a formal position. “A name is what they want, and a name I could give you if you would have me.”

Here’s the thing, while some things remained the same after the war, most things did change - and some, drastically so.   
  
The name Haruno used to mean textiles and her father’s cooking to civilians and nothing to shinobi. But Sakura’s a war hero now, a legend in her own right. The girl who faced a goddess alongside the reincarnations of gods themselves. 

Her name has weight now. It may not be Yamanaka, or Nara or Akamichi or Hyuuga but it opens doors, libraries, and villages. It opens hearts and conversations. She hopes, she can open this one. 

_If not, she will force it open._

With permission from her father - her loving, warm and  _amazing_ father - she placed in the paperwork, the first of many, to have the Haruno family be recognized as a clan. Because clans have louder voices, and because clans can court another and –

“Are you asking me to marry you?” Sai blinks because while he doesn’t doubt that he and Sakura could work in a marriage, he has his heart (and wasn’t that an odd concept, a heart,  _his_ heart) set on another. The other being sun incarnate, beautiful and  _lost_ to him. “Aren’t you and Kakashi-sensei together?” 

Sakura splutters, nearly falling off her formal seat, “What? No! I–”

“No to what? I’m sure I saw Kakashi –”

“SHH!” Sakura flails. “Just, shh, I’m–” she breathes, trying to contain a sense of formality despite the burning of her cheeks. Time to get serious. 

Sakura looks at Sai, takes both his hands in hers and bows. Forehead to the floor, the Seal of the Strength of a Hundred touching his stained hardwood before kissing his ink-stained hands. 

Something inside Sai trembles. 

This girl is his first bond and she looks at him like he’s important. 

“Sai, you have been my brother in arms in battles seen by many, in battles seen by few and in battles seen by only me and you,” Sakura pauses, green eyes boring into his, willing him to understand, “Would you do me the great honor of being my brother in name?” 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm getting to the prompts! I'm just spacing them out since most of it is KakaSaku and TobiSaku. This mini-series though should have at least three parts including Yamato's adoption and the shift of a new ninja clan in the village. Let me know what you think! And follow me on Tumblr for prompts! - delunalovegoodstuff


	10. There is no honor here - Tobirama x Sakura

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sakura's conversation with Tobirama back in Chapter 1.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Working three jobs is taking its toll and I miss writing. I have two long one-shot's in the making but I figured I'd upload this to stretch my writing muscles again.

He knows, long before he sensed her chakra coming towards his direction. 

He knows that she has made her decisions and Sakura is nothing if not thorough in decision-making, and she is nothing if not steadfast and loyal – and these are only few of the non-reasons of why Tobirama loves her. 

He knows that he is not chosen, and yet, he still hopes that she’ll come and prove him wrong like she always does. 

“Tobirama,” Sakura calls, stopping a few inches away from him. Their shoulders barely touching and yet, he feels the heat of her body, so warm that it permeates through his armor. 

The white-haired male quietly glances at the rosette, noting the red rims around her eyes, and the puffiness of her cheeks. She has been crying. And a selfish part of him is glad, that this decision is not easy for her. 

Because it means that he has weight in her heart, that maybe, even if she had not chosen him, she had considered him. Even if be the slightest of inclinations. 

“I—I’m sorry.” She starts, and Tobirama can’t take it anymore.

“Don’t. Sakura. No amount of apologies will ever recover me from the pit that you plan to leave me in.” 

Sakura flinches and turns to him with surprise written on her features. There is pain. 

Tobirama is ruthless in pain as he is in battle and plows on, because it is true, he will never recover and there will be no other love or no other woman. He wonders idly if this pain would’ve mattered less had it not been the Uchiha who stole her heart but another ninja. But the truth is, no matter who she chose, it would’ve hurt this much nonetheless.

“You have destroyed me.” Tobirama’s red eyes drink her in while his hand reaches up to her face, cradles her cheek which now has streaks of tears being shed for him. His brother will not be proud of him, he thinks absently, purposely hurting the woman he loves just so she could feel a fraction of the pain she is putting him through. 

For once, perhaps being noble should take a backseat. 

“You have destroyed me.” He repeats and relishes at the fresh batch of tears his statement summons. “I will never love another woman, and anyone who dares to make the mistake of loving me will suffer.”

“Tobirama- please,-“ Sakura pleads and he knows, she wants him happy but doesn’t she understand that happiness means being her choice. Being with her? But she does understand, she just can’t give it. 

“No, Sakura. Please.” Tobirama breaks, lifting his other hand to fully cradle her porcelain face. “Choose me. Love me. I beg of you.” Desperately, he searches her face and her eyes for any sign of love for him.

There is none.

Sakura covers his hands with his own, “I’m really sorry. Tobirama, I beg of you, open your heart for someone else—“

“How could I when you have it and have chosen to abandon it in a place that I will never find?” The statement cuts, but Tobirama’s voice is soft, pleading like the howling wind against an unmovable mountain. 

He steps away, forcing the door he wants to enter, to close. It was high time to end something that had never begun.

“Had you met me first, would you have chosen me?” Tobirama asks, eyes shining perhaps with tears, Sakura couldn’t tell as her own eyesight is blurred with her own. 

“You are not a hard man to love.” Sakura answers. Tobirama nods, turning back and jumping into the foliage before he closes his eyes and lets his tears fall.

**Author's Note:**

> Send me your prompts! <3


End file.
